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Vampire Detective: Vampire or Detective?

Maybe it’s a little premature to whine now, since Vampire is only 3eps in running…but hey, that’s about 30% into the entire 10eps series. What started off as promising — I talked about how it’d be interesting to see San adapt to his changed status and use his new super powers to solve cases — has tapered off into nothingness.

1. Does he KNOW?

I suspect that San does realize (at least on the subconscious level) that something weird has happened to him. And so does his closest buddy, Goo-hyung. In ep2, we see a partially conscious San opening his eyes to see Goo-hyung donating blood and later the doctor uses that donated blood to feed him. And of cos, San has been experiencing those monochromatic episodes when his vampiric senses are triggered by the scent of blood, and he can see the events that transpired previously which led to the bleeding.

But…why isn’t San coming out to deal with this new abilities? So far, he doesn’t even seem puzzled or concerned about them. I mean, I’d be terrified if I suddenly experience an extreme sensitivity to blood scent, and have b/w “hallucinations”. And his colleagues-friends (including Goo-hyung, who MUZ know something) appear to be avoiding the topic entirely, either out of consideration for him, or they have already adjusted to it.

Whatever the case, I really hope Vampire does venture into San’s mind and show us how he intends to cope with his vampire abilities — and limitations. Cos while he has no problem sunning himself, he is hardly super strong to withstand ALL forms of attacks. San has been knocked unconscious and badly hurt a few times (including being stabbed repeatedly). Does he also know he needs blood in order to heal? (Again, Goo-hyung probably knows, but isn’t telling) And…shouldn’t he be hungry by now?

2. Quantum leaps

I understand that Vampire has set out very early on that San has (almost) supernatural observation and deductive skills. Those skills we saw in ep1 and more recently, in ep3, when he manages to deduce the code to open the safe, as well as how Mobster Choi relate to his children via his dragon drawings. And in ep2, Vampire also amps up San’s sense of smell, emphasizing that his vampire nose can detect the tiniest drop of blood and how it was spilled.

But while San explains in ep1 how he manages to deduce that the victim’s female friend is her killer, in ep3, viewers are made to link the clues on their own. Either I dozed off or am not paying attention, but I dunno how San manages to uncover the identity of Mobster Choi’s first son as his (now) family lawyer.

3. Big? Picture

Lastly, I am not very invested in the link between the secret Vampire world and the cases of the day thus far. Currently, the overarching story — about San’s obsession in locating, whom he believes to be “alive”, ex-girlfriend and her association to that shadowy woman — and the general cases have a rather tenuous link. The slotting in of the “Vampire case” into the cases of the day is especially jarring in ep3, when out of nowhere, another vampire attacks San, and then we see that San actually has predicted that (er, how?), so all Mystery Lady got was a name card.

It’d have to be soon for San to start focusing on the Vampire link in his cases, before we all lose interest in Vampire. Prior to that though, he needs to come right out and say he feels “different”, and no longer human.